HP goes on the Turion Offensive, takes beating from Dell

[K. Eng]

HP is really on the offensive, but as far as this round goes to ThinkPad and Dell, who gave the new HP models a beating in everything but price:

http://reviews.cnet.com/HP_Compaq_nx612 ... ml?tag=top
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1830528,00.asp

Battery life was very respectable on these Turion machines at a bit over 3.5 hours, but it still falls short of the 4+ hours on most Centrino notebooks. I think the CNET test are best for comparing the platforms, especially the comparison between the Dell D610 and the nx6125. Both machines are equipped with the best chipset for each side (915PM and ATI Express 200 respectively), 512MB of RAM, and 5400RPM drives. Processors are both 2 GHz. The Turion machine was beaten by over 20% in MobileMark, and ran out of juice half an hour earlier than the D610.

Comparison with the T43 wasn't fair, as the T43 had a 7200RPM drive and 9-cell battery.

What I did like about the Turion machines was the price. Less than $1200 gets you a very functional machine with 3-year warranty. What I didn't like was the fact that the machines are in the 6-pound range.

Build quality is reported to be good and fingerprint reader are available. There's no question that HP has ThinkPads in its crosshairs. But HP won't be happy to read this:

You'd be better off with a mainstream notebook such as the ThinkPad R52, which offers much more speed and the same amount of battery life for a similar price.

[Navck]

Ouch, that sucks.

[emorphien]

I had hoped for a lot from the Turion, looks like Intel still has no competent competition for mobile chips.